Quango asks Labour to return £4,000 Steven Purcell set up City Building while council leader

LABOUR has been asked to return £4,000 worth of donations it received from a quango set up by disgraced Glasgow council leader Steven Purcell.

The party took the money from City Building, the former construction wing of Scotland's biggest council, for two tables at consecutive annual fundraising dinners this year and last.

But City Building yesterday admitted it had been wrong to take the tables at the events – at which it hosted senior Labour figures, including the party's Scottish leader, Iain Gray and his wife.

City Building managing director Willie Docherty yesterday said:

"City Building will not be attending any future dinners of this type and we shall be writing to the Labour Party to ask for a full refund of what has been termed a political donation."

Mr Docherty was speaking at a meeting of the Glasgow City Council committee responsible for scrutinising City Building and other arm's-length external organisations – known as Aleos – created while Mr Purcell was leader of the council.